Realizing the promise of DCIM requires specialized software, hardware and sensors, and vendors have wasted no time jumping into the DCIM space. As of 2013 there were more than 100 vendors, most of them offering point solutions and hardware.

HP today announced four new consulting services to help clients cut through the confusion.

"Choosing and implementing a DCIM solution can be challenging because of market fragmentation, an overabundance of tools, technologies and vendors. Too often, a lack of proper planning," says Chris Coggrave, worldwide director of IT Infrastructure Services at HP Technology Services Consulting.

"What's more, most organizations' in-house data center teams lack the unique mix of IT, facility and service management expertise that's needed to understand both DCIM's potential and the current gaps between crucial data center functions-not to mention expertise on how to adapt ITSM best practices to business needs and how to integrate data center resources into broader enterprise management systems," Coggrave says.

By providing access to senior HP IT service management (ITSM), IT infrastructure and facility experts, the new HP Converged Management Consulting Services are intended to help organizations squeeze the greatest efficiency out of their data centers while also preparing for the impact of future workloads created by cloud, mobility and big data.

The New HP Converged Management Consulting Services

The services include the following:

HP Converged Management Workshop. This interactive workshop consists of bringing key stakeholders together for a day to build consensus on a converged management vision and strategy. It covers key DCIM topics and includes real-world use cases and industry best practices.

HP Converged Management Roadmap Service. The roadmap service, which often takes several weeks, is designed to help you analyze your IT and facilities processes and capabilities, identify gaps and lay out short- and long-term activity plans."This helps you understand what's needed from a business, functional, technical and implementation view," Coggrave says. "It helps you define individual projects that are needed. By the time you've got to the end, you've got a good view of where you need to go."

HP Converged Management Design Service.Typically following from the roadmap service, the design service takes the individual projects laid out in the roadmap and builds them into real, detailed project plans.

HP Converged Management Implementation Services.This service is intended to close the loop by helping an organization simplify multi-vendor migration with well-managed deployment and operational guidelines.

"There's a need to understand where we're heading, what are the problems that are coming up," Coggrave says. "We're heading to a much more converged future. As a result, areas that were islands in the past are inevitably going to have to come together if you want to stay competitive in business. It's no longer a case of just buying a product or tool and doing an implementation. You need to take a more holistic approach."